First Helo Lesson

Geico266

Geico266

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Husker Nation, NE
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Geico
I mentioned to a buddy that I was interested in a few helo lessons. He called yesterday and said meet me at the airport in an hour. :eek:

What an amazing experience! I thought I would be just going for a ride and manipulate the controls in the air, you know pudd stuff. Oh no! :no:

This guy had me do the preflight, start up, radio work out of class "C". We headed out to a grass strip and did 4 T&Gs where I was at full control and he was helping with the input.

Very interesting, and challenging. The collective (up &down), throttle, cyclic (maneuvering), peddle (anti-torque) all must be manipulated at the same time. Somehow all this actually made sense to me all at once! Only flew .6 hours but I think I'm hooked!

:heli:


I'm gonna need a new map! :lol:
 
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Oh yeah. Some of the good stuff. GA needs more helicopter pilots, fun enough to motivate people.
 
Henning said:
Yep, lots of fun, hover is interesting to learn. :rofl:
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There was no wind so every landing and take off was a slight hover until we could get into transitional lift. I had no idea that a hover takes 30% more power than cruise due to the wind swirling back over the rotors. Amazing physics!

I'm certainly a green novice newbie to helos, but it was fun. :goofy:
 
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Geico266 said:
It is amazing. I wasn't landing and taking off by myself, but I think I could do it by the end of the 2nd or 3rd lesson. ..... Maybe! :lol: :eek:
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It sounds like great fun, like a mental chess game. But considering my situation, the future of flight will be free flight for me.
 
You wouldn't think it was possible, but they're exponentially more fun that airplanes. I'm psychic, but I see a new rating in your near future.
 
Bill Jennings said:
It sounds like great fun, like a mental chess game. But considering my situation, the future of flight will be free flight for me.
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Free flight is more fun then helicopters, free flight can be more frustrating though.
 
Flying in no Wind is easy. Gets more interesting when you get 15-20 it wind.

Easiest the most fun I ever had flying is in a helicopter.
 
Not sure the fun you get justifies the hourly cost. Tried it once many years ago.
 
frfly172 said:
Not sure the fun you get justifies the hourly cost. Tried it once many years ago.
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Not sure what it's like in other people's neck of the woods, but one of our CFIIs around here just got his Helo ticket....at a cost of about $450/hour.

:yikes:
 
Hobobiker said:
Not sure what it's like in other people's neck of the woods, but one of our CFIIs around here just got his Helo ticket....at a cost of about $450/hour.

:yikes:
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That is about the same as around here. Around $375-$385/hr for rental (Enstrom 280FX) plus Instructor time.

Seems a little high if it was an R22 though :dunno:

Looking at getting my rating in the next few months (already got buy in from the wife:goofy:)
 
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Hobobiker said:
Not sure what it's like in other people's neck of the woods, but one of our CFIIs around here just got his Helo ticket....at a cost of about $450/hour.

:yikes:
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That would have to be in an R44. R22 should be around $250/hr plus $40-50/hr for CFI's time. Of course, you'd have to use an R44 if either of you had any girth.
 
Sounds like a blast! I wish I had a buddy with a helicopter!
 
Helicopters are amazing machines. You can literally make it an extention of your body and do whatever you can imagine.

I love flying them and can't believe they pay me to do it!
 
Same metal fatigue that airplanes have only if my engine fails I can put it down in the trees at almost zero airspeed / zero descent rate. Not to mention a lot of your newer helos are mostly composite. You have essentially no airframe / blade life limit.
 
Helicopters are the most fun I have had flying by far. Even when learning to hover. Like balancing on a pin. Getting a stable hover is a challenge and quite rewarding when you can do it without thinking. Then there are all the things you can do that fixed wings cannot. Hovering at 1,000 agl. Or a night flight at 300' in bravo over the bumper to bumper traffic. Just spectacular.
 
silver-eagle said:
Helicopters are the most fun I have had flying by far. Even when learning to hover. Like balancing on a pin. Getting a stable hover is a challenge and quite rewarding when you can do it without thinking. Then there are all the things you can do that fixed wings cannot. Hovering at 1,000 agl. Or a night flight at 300' in bravo over the bumper to bumper traffic. Just spectacular.
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There even better when you put Guns And Missiles on them....
 

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Someone locally fatally wrecked the Enstrom one of the places here uses for training this week at KEIK, so I'm guessing the price is going up around here soon. Last time that happened the local heliwhopper folks folded Business A and did the bankruptcy car wash and started Buisness B.

Just an outsiders perspective on our local scene. I think we're actually up to Business D or E since I started flying. Same hangar at BJC. Different names.

Happens to fixed wing schools too, don't get me wrong... Just seems to be a faster cycle (no pun intended) for the helo kids.
 
Okay, I'm hooked. I got the helo thing real bad. I want to get my rating and buy a helo. Nothing better than hovering, even sex. :no:

What, where, and how is the best way to get the helo rating? Should I buy a helo now and train in it? Flight schools with simulators? How many hours can I do in a certified sim ?

As always any advice greatly appreciated. :yes:
 
Told ya! Nah, train in a trainer. You'll do a lot of hovering autos, etc. May even overspeed the engine or rotor...don't risk that in your own.

Are you leaning toward the R22 or the Schweizer?

Have fun with it and keep us posted.

Oh, and get a copy of Chickenhawk by Robert Mason and read it! Now that you're flying helicopters I promise you'll agree that it's the best book you've ever read. It will have your belly hurting in parts.
 
Use the schools helicopters. If you are going to buy one for insurance reasons you probably better off training in what you want to own. So if you think a Robinson is in your future train in them. Actually you are probably best off training in a Robinson everything gets easier from there, going the other way and meeting Robinson insurance requirements might be unpleasant. Don't believe there is any sim time for the little stuff. I keep telling everyone vanilla GA is boring, nice to see you figured it out.:yes:
Geico266 said:
Okay, I'm hooked. I got the helo thing real bad. I want to get my rating and buy a helo. Nothing better than hovering, even sex. :no:

What, where, and how is the best way to get the helo rating? Should I buy a helo now and train in it? Flight schools with simulators? How many hours can I do in a certified sim ?

As always any advice greatly appreciated. :yes:
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A friend of mine recently bought a Rotorway Exec. Great option in my opinion. Of course he is friends with a CFI who is providing him instruction for free, so that helps.

http://www.rotorway.com/
 
darrell said:
A friend of mine recently bought a Rotorway Exec. Great option in my opinion. Of course he is friends with a CFI who is providing him instruction for free, so that helps.

http://www.rotorway.com/
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Jeff Dunham would disagree with me, but this isn't the way to go. I prefer to leave the maintenance to the experts. I'm not sure what the numbers are now, but 15 years ago it was 3 hours of maintenance for every flight hour. They are good-looking though.

And another thing. The main rotor spins the wrong way. :yes: :D
 
Geico, If you have a helicopter school within an easy drive, you're lucky. Mine is only ten minutes, but I know folks living three hours away who come this far to train or rent. You definitely don't want to invest in a machine until you've got some hours and know what you're looking for. About 18 months ago, I took a couple of lessons on a whim - no intention of taking it to the PPL level. Almost a year later, I was taking my check ride. It's strictly recreation for me and you're right - there's nothing more cool than to set a chopper on the lawn in front of a restaurant. It took me forever to comfortably hover in an R22 (in my defense, I was 61 years old). It seemed that I would surpass a major milestone every couple of months. Things that terrified me (not flying or even autos - but talking to the tower) eventually became second nature. I've just got a little over a hundred hours, but I look back now and can't believe how hard it was to get down. Getting to the 'muscle memory' stage was a stressful road. I'm told that it takes 27 control inputs per second to hold a helicopter in a hover. That's probably true in an R22.

Oh yea, and I've read several helicopter-related books, but Chickenhawk was by far the most enjoyable. I ran into Robert at a Mosquito Helo fly in last year. I didn't know who he was when I brought up his book. He gave me some great 'behind the scenes' stories. Great guy and great book.
 
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Tradford said:
Mine is only ten minutes, but I know folks living three hours away who come this far to train or rent.

Oh yea, and I've read several helicopter-related books, but Chickenhawk was by far the most enjoyable. I ran into Robert at a Mosquito Helo fly in last year.
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Lucky bastard on both levels. At the time I picked up my rating the nearest place to train or rent was 140 miles away. Twice a week I'd get off work, head to the airport, fly for an hour and a half, try to shake myself off for a bit before starting my training. Half the time I would make the three hour drive just so my hands and my mind would be fresh when I got there.

And I'm envious you got an autographed copy. Tell me you got his signature!
 
Gecko, there are plenty of experimental helicopters out there. Some I believe even qualify as ultralights. Figure out which one of the experimental whirlybirds you want, then figure out training.
 
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